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After an impressive career at the oche, Wayne Mardle is now one of the most recognisable voices in darts with fans tuning in to hear his unique analysis on matches on Sky Sports.
But 'Hawaii 501' has not always been a favourite among darts fans and was at the centre of an infamous incident during one Premier League event in Edinburgh back in 2009.
As he walked out for his match with Terry Jenkins at the Royal Highland Centre, Mardle was booed and jeered by the Scottish crowd and revealed earlier this year that the abuse even turned physical.
Mardle, now 49, alleges he was 'spat on' and had drinks thrown at him before the start of the match – although he would go on to have the last laugh.
READ MORE: Andrew Gilding drinks pint out of UK Open trophy as fans say 'how can you not love him'
After finding himself down 6-5 to Jenkins in the best of 14 match, Mardle impressively checked out on 107 before angrily celebrating in front of the raucous crowd. But that was only a taster of what was to come.
Jenkins won the next leg to regain his lead before having two opportunities to check out for the match, on 161 and 96, in a tense deciding leg. He blew them both to give his opponent a reprieve, but Mardle had to hit 160 from three darts to stand a chance of getting anything from the match.
He did just that, hitting T20, T20, D20 with his three throws to claim a draw, before some more wild celebrations in retaliation to the Edinburgh crowd.
The late Sky Sports commentator John Gwynne delivered a fitting piece of punditry, exclaiming: "You will not see better anywhere than that, Mardle pulled that one out of nowhere!"
Earlier this year, Mardle was asked on social media how he would handle raucous crowds on the bank of taunts Gerwyn Price received at the World Championship at Ally Pally.
Hawaii 501 replied: "I had similar ( spat at and drinks poured over my head ) treatment just once in my whole career. I didn’t handle it well. That said I took out 160 for a draw. Haha."
Mardle would only win one of his first nine matches in the 2009 Premier League before being withdrawn after suffering from a virus and later contracting mumps.
The sixth night of the 2023 Premier League gets underway in Liverpool on Thursday with Michael van Gerwen looking to extend his lead at the top of the table with victory over Jonny Clayton.
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